Riverheads made its first-ever trip to Liberty Bedford for any sport to the best of my knowledge, since they are 70 miles away and Class 3-A, and the trip proved successful as the Big Red swept both the JV (44-35) and Varsity (58-50) games. The two games were actually somewhat similar in that play was a little ragged and VERY closely called by the officials. Also in both cases, Riverheads held a narrow lead at the half but took advantage of a big third quarter to establish a working margin and then held on for the win.
The JV game seemed especially tight in terms of the officiating as both teams were on the double bonus in the first half, and remember JVs only play 7 minute quarters. However I have no complaints about the refs as they were consistent in both games.
I can also compliment the atmosphere at the game. Liberty had a very lively pep band which added a lot to the evening. Their cheerleaders were also a festive bunch but I have to admit I have never seen a game where the home cheerleaders were not only on the visitors' side but were right in the middle of the visiting bleachers as opposed to down front or on the side. I am sure they had their reasons and it was not really that much of a distraction, but it did seem odd.
In the varsity game, the teams were very evenly matched in terms of not having a strong inside presence and therefore each relied on guard play and pressure defense, which of course led to the abundance of fouls. With only 10 guys dressed out for the Minutemen and 9 for RHS, there were dangers of a foul out but to the best of my recollection, only one Liberty player reached the limit.
The first quarter, although fast paced, featured very little scoring as Liberty led 8-7. You could tell that the Gladiators were working very hard to establish a three point game, since they average in double digits and had hit 12 (or was it 13.?........I will come back to that shortly) in Friday's upset win at Fort Defiance.
But in that first quarter, only one fell for the Big Red. Things picked up a little bit and eventually four different guys hit from behind the arc for a total of seven triples. A little below their average but Coach Weller will take that any day as long as a victory comes with it.
Coach also had to be very pleased with tonight's balanced offense. Bennett Dunlap led the way with 12 points, including two of the triples. He was the only player in double figures for RHS but all nine guys dented the scoring column and five of them scored between 6 and 9 points. Worthy of special mention were the steady floor games of Aden Slack and Jackson Brammer. Neither is likely to ever lead the Big Red in scoring in any game, but Slack is a strong rebounder and does a lot of the little things that do not show up in the box score, and Brammer is one of the steadiest guys on the team and never seems to get rattled.
The victory gives RHS a 4-5 overall record and when Mountain View comes to town on Thursday, they can even their slate heading into the second half of the season. By the way, tonight's game was a make-up you might say and was scheduled due to the teams having to miss out on the chance to compete in the Dec. 22-23 Riverheads Holiday Tournament. Weather canceled that event but RHS worked out home-and-home series with both Mountain View and Liberty. The Minutemen will visit Riverheads on Saturday night the 21st.
In closing, let me explain my comment above about the Fort Defiance game. As I had mentioned in that recap, Henley Dunlap's game winner appeared to be a three-pointer in real time but yet the game went to record as a 47-45 Riverheads win.
However the Harrisonburg paper has since covered the game and they called it a three and reported the score as 48-45. So tonight I asked our AD about it. He had a bird's eye view of the play that night and he says that Dunlap was a foot and a half behind the line and therefore it should have been called a three. So I guess the final word was that it was a two pointer, so let's just hope that Mr. Dunlap, who is only a sophomore, does not find himself flirting with the 1,000 point mark a couple of years down the road. Or let's hope he easily exceeds it so that the point or lack thereof doesn't matter.
The JV game seemed especially tight in terms of the officiating as both teams were on the double bonus in the first half, and remember JVs only play 7 minute quarters. However I have no complaints about the refs as they were consistent in both games.
I can also compliment the atmosphere at the game. Liberty had a very lively pep band which added a lot to the evening. Their cheerleaders were also a festive bunch but I have to admit I have never seen a game where the home cheerleaders were not only on the visitors' side but were right in the middle of the visiting bleachers as opposed to down front or on the side. I am sure they had their reasons and it was not really that much of a distraction, but it did seem odd.
In the varsity game, the teams were very evenly matched in terms of not having a strong inside presence and therefore each relied on guard play and pressure defense, which of course led to the abundance of fouls. With only 10 guys dressed out for the Minutemen and 9 for RHS, there were dangers of a foul out but to the best of my recollection, only one Liberty player reached the limit.
The first quarter, although fast paced, featured very little scoring as Liberty led 8-7. You could tell that the Gladiators were working very hard to establish a three point game, since they average in double digits and had hit 12 (or was it 13.?........I will come back to that shortly) in Friday's upset win at Fort Defiance.
But in that first quarter, only one fell for the Big Red. Things picked up a little bit and eventually four different guys hit from behind the arc for a total of seven triples. A little below their average but Coach Weller will take that any day as long as a victory comes with it.
Coach also had to be very pleased with tonight's balanced offense. Bennett Dunlap led the way with 12 points, including two of the triples. He was the only player in double figures for RHS but all nine guys dented the scoring column and five of them scored between 6 and 9 points. Worthy of special mention were the steady floor games of Aden Slack and Jackson Brammer. Neither is likely to ever lead the Big Red in scoring in any game, but Slack is a strong rebounder and does a lot of the little things that do not show up in the box score, and Brammer is one of the steadiest guys on the team and never seems to get rattled.
The victory gives RHS a 4-5 overall record and when Mountain View comes to town on Thursday, they can even their slate heading into the second half of the season. By the way, tonight's game was a make-up you might say and was scheduled due to the teams having to miss out on the chance to compete in the Dec. 22-23 Riverheads Holiday Tournament. Weather canceled that event but RHS worked out home-and-home series with both Mountain View and Liberty. The Minutemen will visit Riverheads on Saturday night the 21st.
In closing, let me explain my comment above about the Fort Defiance game. As I had mentioned in that recap, Henley Dunlap's game winner appeared to be a three-pointer in real time but yet the game went to record as a 47-45 Riverheads win.
However the Harrisonburg paper has since covered the game and they called it a three and reported the score as 48-45. So tonight I asked our AD about it. He had a bird's eye view of the play that night and he says that Dunlap was a foot and a half behind the line and therefore it should have been called a three. So I guess the final word was that it was a two pointer, so let's just hope that Mr. Dunlap, who is only a sophomore, does not find himself flirting with the 1,000 point mark a couple of years down the road. Or let's hope he easily exceeds it so that the point or lack thereof doesn't matter.
